


What He Needed To Hear

by sunkissdreams



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Panic Attack, angst? fluff? both??, dan stressed about law, phil comforts him, poor dan :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 12:42:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17224298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkissdreams/pseuds/sunkissdreams
Summary: Dan has a panic attack when he remembers he forgot to do a project for law, but luckily Phil is there to help him through it.





	What He Needed To Hear

Dan and Phil were sitting on the couch in Phil’s apartment, playing Mario Kart. “Eat my ass!” Dan laughed as he launched his blue shell forward, striking Phil. Dan zoomed past Phil into first place and past the finish line.

“Oh piss off.” Phil replied with a huff as he tossed the controller onto the empty space on the couch next to him.

“Oh, Philly got wrecked by the blue shell.” Dan teased, “Once again, Danny’s the winner!”

Dan was going to gloat more but got interrupted by a knock at the door.

Dan looked at Phil with a smirk. “Loser has to answer the door.” 

Phil rolled his eyes as he stood up. “I would have won if you didn’t get that stupid shell.” He chuckled as he walked down the hallway to go answer the door.

Dan smiled because he was hungry and the pizza had finally arrived after what felt like an eternity. Dan looked around the room and his eyes landed on a law textbook sitting under a pile of Dan’s junk that he set down on the floor when he had first arrived at Phil’s flat earlier. 

Everything froze.

Dan was assigned a giant project last week, which was due tomorrow. Dan could feel his brain sinking as he stared at the textbook. There was no way he’d be able to finish the project by tomorrow, especially not when he has a train to catch tonight back to his dorm. Dan’s breathing started to get choppy. He couldn’t fail this project, it was worth half of his finally grade. He was just barely passing the class as it was. 

His body froze but his mind raced. God he was such a fucking idiot! How did he manage to procrastinate and forget this big of a thing? What was he going to do? Tears started pooling at his eyes and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. His vision went cloudy as he gasped for air. He didn’t notice when Phil walked back into the room with the pizza.

“Dan?” Phil asked with concern laced in his tone. He set the pizza box on the table and rushed over to Dan. “Dan? Are you alright?” Dan wasn’t responding.

Dan couldn’t hear Phil. All Dan could hear was the sound of his own blood pumping in his head. He couldn’t see anything besides black and he didn’t even know if he was alive. He’d never felt anything like this before. Was he dying? He felt like he was dying.

“Dan?” Phil’s tone was getting sterner. His eyes widened as he watching the boy next to him shake and sob, not knowing what to do.

Dan was a mess. He was shaking and violently sobbing and he couldn’t see or hear and he didn’t even know what was going on. He was scared. “P-phil?” He managed to softly call out between his sobs. He didn’t know where Phil was or if he could hear him. He felt alone and trapped.

“Dan, I’m right here.” Phil panicked, he’d never been in this situation before. He didn’t know if he should touch Dan or if that would make things worse. 

Dan was drowning. He felt himself getting thrashed around in the waves but he couldn’t escape or even breathe. He felt a hand on his arm though. He could hear faint words and promises from afar. 

He felt himself being wrapped up and embraced by an unknown force. He couldn’t see or hear anything besides darkness. Dan focused hard and could make out words from the static. “Dan?” he heard his name being called. “Help,” Dan replied, but it got caught in his throat.

With his arms wrapped around Dan, Phil soothingly calles his name out and told Dan to breathe. He promised everything was okay and that Dan just needed to breathe. He could see Dan become more responsive to his words. “Dan, listen to me, breathe.”

Dan listened and he obliged. He focused on his breathing. He tried to regulate his breathing but his sobs made it too hard. The calming words being spoken softly to him helped though. 

Dan eventually calmed himself down and it was enough to be able to hear the world around him again clearly. “Dan, It’s okay, I’m here, I’ve got you, just focus on breathing, okay?” Every word that was spoke brought Dan back down to reality. His vision slowly started to clear.

“Everything is okay, love,” Phil continued to calm down Dan. “You’re alright.” 

Dan turned his head to face Phil. Dan’s eyes were red and his face was wet with tears. Phil wanted to cry too. He wanted to take all of Dan’s pain away. “Phil,” Dan managed to get out before closing his eyes and crying again. 

Phil pulled Dan onto his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around him. Dan sobbed into Phil’s chest as Phil lovingly ran his hands up and down Dan’s back, reassuring him that everything was alright.

Dan let everything out. All the pent up emotions that he locked away. All the stress and fears about school. Every time he wanted to cry but didn’t. It was all coming out now. Curled up to Phil’s chest, he cried.

He cried and cried until he had no more tears left. 

“I’m sorry.” Dan mumbled so quiet he think Phil didn’t hear it, but he had. 

Phil looked down at the head laying against his chest and frowned. “Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

Dan sighed. “I’m so dramatic and emotional and-“

“Please don’t talk about yourself like that.”

Dan took a breath. “But it’s true.”

“So? You’re a human being who’s allowed to cry. Don’t be sorry about being upset.” Phil pressed the smallest, softest kiss to the top of Dan’s head. He pushed Dan back a bit so he could look at his face. “What even happened anyway, love?” 

Dan sniffled. “I was just sitting here and I remembered I didn’t do my project for uni and then all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe or see or hear and I was so scared Phil.” Dan curled back up to his chest, but he was still able to see Phil’s face.

Phil frowned. “Has that ever happened before? Where you couldn’t breathe or see or hear?” Phil asked as he ran his hand through the back of Dan’s hair. Dan shook his head.

“I’m telling you Dan, uni is stressing you out too much. Maybe you should take a gap year or something. I’m started to get worried for you.” The softness on Phil’s face never left.

Dan thought. “I don’t know. M-my parents would be disappointed. And it’s not even that big of a deal anyway, I just need to suck it up. It’s my fault I’m too dumb to remember to do a project, so I really just brought it on myself.”

“Dan,” Phil softly shook his head. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work. School isn’t supposed to cause panic attacks, let alone ones this bad. And you’re really not dumb, please stop calling yourself that. So what? You forgot about a project? That doesn’t make you dumb, Dan. You’re one of the most intelligent people I know. You’re so talented and creative and witty and knowledgeable and just straight up wonderful. Maybe law just isn’t your thing? Just because something isn’t your thing doesn’t mean you’re dumb. I don’t know a thing about engineering but does that make me dumb? No. But I sure can tell you a whole lot about linguistics. We all have our different things, things that interest us. Some people like cooking, some people like sports, and some people like law. Just because law isn’t your thing doesn’t mean you’re dumb, Dan.”

It was silent while Dan thought. “But-“ he paused. “But I need to get a degree.”

“I’m not saying to not get a degree, I’m just saying that you might need a break. Or maybe you just need to find your thing. Because Dan, I know you’re not happy. And your mental health is so much more important than a stupid degree. You can come back for a degree later, but you can’t keep stressing like this for much longer.” 

Dan stared deep into Phil’s eyes. He knew what Phil was saying was true. He knew his mental health was deteriorating as the days went on. He knew he hated law. Law was everything Dan wasn’t. 

“So what’re you saying?” Dan asked even though he already knew.

Phil sighed. “Dan, take a year off.” 

Dan just stared up at Phil, not knowing what to say. He finally heard the words he’d been trying to formulate for months now. Dan was afraid that people would tell him that he’s being too weak and that he needs to suck it up. But here Phil was, telling Dan what he wanted to hear all along.

Dan couldn’t help but smile. Somehow, a few tears managed to pool in Dan’s eyes. He sat up before engulfing Phil in the biggest hug ever.

“Thank you.” Dan whispered over and over again. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” 

He pulled away but kept his face close to Phil’s. 

“Thank you for everything. I love you.”

A smile grew on Phil’s face.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes i know it’s short and kinda crappy but i hope you still enjoyed it nonetheless :)


End file.
